THE CURIOUS CASE OF CHINESE FILM CENSORSHIP: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FILM ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS by SHUO XU A THESIS Presented to the School of Journalism and Communication and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts December 2017 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Shuo Xu Title: The Curious Case of Chinese Film Censorship: An Analysis of Film Administration Regulations This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the School of Journalism and Communication by: Gabriela Martínez Chairperson Chris Chávez Member Daniel Steinhart Member and Sara D. Hodges Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded December 2017 ii © 2017 Shuo Xu iii THESIS ABSTRACT Shuo Xu Master of Arts School of Journalism and Communication December 2017 Title: The Curious Case of Chinese Film Censorship: An Analysis of Film Administration Regulations The commercialization and global transformation of the Chinese film industry demonstrates that this industry has been experiencing drastic changes within the new social and economic environment of China in which film has become a commodity generating high revenues. However, the Chinese government still exerts control over the industry which is perceived as an ideological tool. They believe that the films display and contain beliefs and values of certain social groups as well as external constraints of politics, economy, culture, and ideology. This study will look at how such films are banned by the Chinese film censorship system through analyzing their essential cinematic elements, including narrative, filming, editing, sound, color, and sponsor and publisher. The study will also analyze how the combination of government control and market forces influence the Chinese film industry and its production. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Shuo Xu GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan, China DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, Media Studies, 2017, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Journalism, 2017, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Finance, 2010, Hunan Agricultural University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Asian Studies Chinese Media and Journalism Chinese Media Censorship PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Report Intern, Tiger Eye Foundation, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Summer 2017 Executive Assistant, Center for Equity Promotion, University of Oregon, Fall 2014 – present Graduate Employee, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, Spring 2015 – Fall 2017 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Charles and Eiko Politz Scholarship, School of Journalism and Communication, 2015 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express sincere appreciation to my advisor Prof. Gabriela Martínez for working closely with me on this thesis and spending hours reading and discussing the many drafts and iterations. It was thanks to her inspirations so that the idea for this thesis was born. I also would like to thank Prof. Chris Chávez and Prof. Daniel Steinhart for their inputs and encouragement during this process. In addition to this, I wish to thank Sharmista Chaudhury and Sara Sacks for being a great support system and letting me bounce ideas off them. Also, I would like to thank my boyfriend, TJ Li, for his patience while I grumbled endlessly about writer’s block and pestered him for help with formatting my pages. Lastly, great thanks to my beloved parents and granny. We made it! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 01 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................................................. 03 III. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 10 IV. ANALYSIS – THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS ............................................. 13 A. The Word Choices ............................................................................................ 13 B. The Laws ........................................................................................................... 14 C. The Regulations ................................................................................................. 16 a. General Provisions and Guarantee ............................................................... 16 b. Control over Production ............................................................................... 21 c. Control over Distribution and Screening ..................................................... 26 d. Control over Import and Export ................................................................... 29 e. Film Examination ......................................................................................... 31 V. DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................... 34 A. Overall System .................................................................................................. 34 B. Structure of Administrative Departments ......................................................... 34 C. Licensing System .............................................................................................. 37 D. Content and Ideology Examination ................................................................... 42 E. Disadvantage of Chinese Film Censorship System ........................................... 50 VI. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 53 REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................ 55 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION China and Western countries have fundamentally different political and economic systems, and it is not surprising that their media systems also differ widely. Historically, Western media systems, including those in Western Europe and North America, have been based on market-oriented private ownership. But in China, media are either owned or controlled by the central government. Under a single-party system, the content of media productions in China is inevitably influenced by China’s Communist Party; in addition, the party also uses state-owned media to educate its citizens and garner political support (Kennedy, 2009). Media systems are connected to a power structure-whether political and/or economic-, for the most part serving the interests of such structure; this is a fact regardless of ideological (capitalism, communism) or geographic location (China, Europe, U.S.). However, they, the media systems, perform their roles very differently. While Western media may serve power—the government or corporations that intertwined with private and government interests, they also have to protect their own market (Lee, 2008). By being legally protected and relatively autonomous from state intervention, the Western media cover, serve, and criticize the power structures that are marked by a plurality of interests. Media quite often challenges the government’s or administration’s policies (Lee, 2008). On the opposite side, in China, state policy is national interest. In this environment only one “correct” and officially sanctioned policy interpretation is allowed to prevail. Factional fights and policy disputes are often rancorous; they are 1 managed behind the scenes and never surface in mainstream or the official media. Since its first attempt at filmmaking with The Battle of Dingjunshan (1905), the Chinese film industry has accumulated a history of more than one hundred years. During these years, the industry has developed from a cluster of family businesses to a market of competing studios and theaters, has survived war devastation and government interference, and has enriched cinematic arts with ingenious narratives and visual inventions. Despite being launched later than its European and American counterparts, Chinese film industry has become a significant player in the international film arena by regularly receiving top awards at various international film festivals and stepping into the international film market. However, Chinese filmmakers have the great challenge to pass censorship. China’s film censorship authority is not in the habit of explaining its decisions, and Chinese filmmakers have to guess as to what is acceptable content, themes, and style. This thesis examines the Chinese film censorship system by centering on the policies and regulations, and the internal structure of the censorship apparatus. The thesis will analyze why and how particular films are affected by censorship decisions. The questions posed in this thesis are: RQ1. How does the Chinese film censorship system function? 1 a. Who makes the censorship decisions? 1 b. What is the censorship process? RQ2: How does the Chinese film censorship system affect filmmakers? 2 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Motion pictures were introduced in China in 1896; and the first Chinese film, a recording of the Beijing Opera, The Battle of Dingjunshan, “定军山,” was made in 1905, with the film industry being centered on Shanghai in the first decades (Geiselmann, 2006). During the 1920s, the Chinese companies imported many U.S. film technicians to help training the Chinese technicians in Shanghai, an early filmmaking center;